John Hargrove teams up with Senator Greg Ball

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Blackfish Star John Hargrove to be guest of honor at New York State Animal Advocacy Day with State Senator Greg Ball

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In a conference call today John Hargrove agreed to attend the 4^th annual NYS Animal Advocacy Day as a guest of NY State Senator Greg Ball in support of the proposed law banning marine parks from keeping captive Orca.  This precedent setting law “Prohibits the possession and harboring of Killer Whales in Aquariums and Sea Parks.”

John Hargrove, who was prominently featured in the documentary “Blackfish”, spent 14 years working with animals in Marine parks including 12 years at SeaWorld and two years in France. Ten years of this experience was working with Killer Whales.  Senator Ball will introduce John on the Senate floor during the event.

NYS Animal Advocacy Day is a free and bipartisan event that is open to the public and enables animal supporters to network, share information and lobby their legislators to raise awareness of the need to protect pets and people from abuse. The event is hosted by State Senator Greg Ball and Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, and will be hosted in the Capitol Building on Wednesday, May 28^th 2014.

During the call today, Mr. Hargrove stressed the importance in differentiating the definitions of  “Animal Advocate” and “Animal Activist.”  “Activist” is a term that is widely assigned in a derisive manner by the display aquaria industry to anyone who speaks out against Marine Mammals in captivity.  Hargrove stated that he had declined invitations to act on behalf of organizations that were perceived as radical or extremists and wishes to be clear that his intent is to speak out for the welfare of well being of Marine Mammals in captivity based on his experience in working with Killer Whales at SeaWorld.

The Killer Whale bill proposed by Senator Ball was inspired by the movie “Blackfish” so it is a natural partnership of interests that brings the two into an alliance.  The Animal Advocacy day is an important step in garnering support for passage of the bill with lawmakers and the public.  Senator Ball provided this quote regarding the importance of this effort:

“Those that commit crimes against animals represent some of the worst kind of people, and often expand their carnage to their neighbors and the larger community. Most people can agree that the level of respect and kindness shown for animals, creatures who cannot speak for themselves, or protect themselves and are easily abused and taken advantage of, is a fine predictor of how a person will treat their peers. Violent and cruel behavior towards animals, cannot and should not be tolerated,” said Senator Ball. “I am greatly looking forward to the 4th Annual Animal Advocacy Day, this is a wonderful event that continues to grow every year.”

Senator Ball tweeted today that the response for an online petition supporting the bill had “7,657 to be exact!” signatures which has already exceeded their expectations.  The news of the bill has been widely shared across social media and a blog article on our site has already seen over 8,000 page views with many sharing it on their own social media pages.

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